Tag: ideas

One of the things I love about social media and my transactions with my personal learning network is the wealth of ideas I glean from these learning spaces. What I relish even more, though, are those who actually write about how they are putting those ideas into practice and reflections on those experiences. In the last year, I have focused on trying to include more posts that explicitly share how my original ideas or those I am borrowing from others play out in my practice as a school librarian; sharing more evidence based practice is one of my writing goals for 2010-11.

I’d like to challenge all of us (public, school, academic librarians, and this includes me as well!) not only to talk about ideas we are discovering in our diverse learning spaces, but to also do more sharing of how those ideas are translating into actual practice in our daily work. It’s one thing to talk about ideas, but to me, the real power comes from discussing how we are putting those ideas into actual action and exploring the ways people are breathing life into the ideas in their library spaces. I hope you’ll join me in this challenge during the next twelve months so that we can tap into the power of the collective wisdom from our practice.

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A sincere thank you to the Hall County Media Specialists’ Association in north Georgia for inviting me to be a guest speaker at their luncheon this past Monday! I enjoyed seeing several of my dear friends from the University of Georgia days as well as new colleagues. Here is the slidedeck that facilitate the talk I gave:

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The Darien Library’s awesome new 21 Things for 21st Century Parents has me thinking about designing a 21 Things for 21st Century Teens that could be offered before or after school, one evening a week, and/or during summer hours. Right now I am thinking about topics and tools related to digital footprints/digital citizenship, cloud computing, mobile computing, and tools for creating content. What would you include in a program like this?

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We claim that we want students to be engaged citizens. We claim we want interdisciplinary thinkers. We claim we want lifelong learners that challenge ideas, work collaboratively to solve problems, and communicate effectively.

YET, we don’t want our students exploring the idea of education simply because the President is the person starting the conversation and we fear the controversy.

~Ryan Bretag~

Over the last few days, I have become increasingly “fired up” about the ridiculous and rampant hysteria over the upcoming speech President Obama that is intended for school age students. I am cobbling together the thoughts I have been sharing on my Facebook page in recent days to share my thoughts on this issue.

What I Believe

While I do not agree with many of President Obama’s policies (and did not vote for him) nor those of Arne Duncan, I DO believe in intellectual freedom. I am disturbed by the nationwide hysteria that is resulting in subversive forms of censorship. How can we say we want to raise a generation of critical thinkers when we don’t allow access to all viewpoints and ideas in our schools? Freedom of ideas and liberty must be permitted for all perspectives, not just those that fit the agendas or political views of one certain group. I totally respect a student’s right to “opt out”, but do we require this kind of opt-out paperwork that is sewing forth from hundreds of school districts for other guest speakers or special broadcasts? Do we deny access to all viewpoints that may differ from our own whether the medium be books, the Internet, or other vehicles for information? No! This is what information literacy and freedom are about people—having access to as much information and varied viewpoints as possible and letting individuals come to their conclusions.

Remember also that for many children, the speech may be the only encouragement they get to follow their dreams and to achieve those dreams through hard work and education–not all children grow up in nurturing homes with responsible parents, and you might be surprised to see how many there are in your own neighborhood.

Why are people so threatened, fearful, and insecure? We devote what amounts to DAYS to mindless standardized test prep, yet we can’t give a few minutes to our Commander in Chief to encourage students to see education as the path to fulfilling life? Our country was founded on the principles of the free exchange of ideas even when those ideas may conflict with our personal beliefs.

I am also disturbed at how people are relying upon obviously biased information sources to argue their opposition. I have yet to see any concrete or reliable evidence that the president intends to do anything other than a deliver an encouraging message to young people. The misinformation that has been fueled by reliance upon opinion-oriented sources only reinforce my belief that information literacy is an essential literacy and more important than ever.

What Others Are Saying

There are others who have articulated opinions and arguments that reflect my own feelings much more eloquently than I ever could. Here are some suggested readings:

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About Me

I am a writing and Language Arts teacher who loves learning, literacy, stories, learning, dogs, poetry, fabulous shoes, and good lip gloss. I began my career as a high school English teacher in 1992 and then became a high school librarian and 2011 Library Journal Mover and Shaker before returning to the classroom in August 2016.